I haven't raced a marathon in 4 years so I'm not sure what will happen. Ran Chicago in '02 in 3:06. Was really inconsistent with my running the past couple of years. This year mostly running 50k+ distances but have tried to focus the past 12 weeks on lactate threshold and marathon pace runs. Africa hot here all summer so looking forward to cooler temperatures. Good luck on race day

Sunday is the day! I'm number 3339 and will be in corral B. I ran my first marathon on my 50th birthday in Chicago and hopefully will be my PR of 3:34:37 this year. I am having some pre-race jitters already. Good luck to everyone runing it! Duane

Good luck memphisrunner, runner_duane and David (dfrourke's) relatives....

It's always a fight to get people to understand what an amazing achievement not only finishing a marathon is, but running it quickly. Someone else posted on another thread how "unpretty" or "slow" distance runners look.

It would be another great thread topic how much distance running is undervalued, and insulted,as an athletic pursuit. Look how it's relegated to treadmills with headphones...as such an unappealing thing to do that you need to distance yourself as much as possible from it.

Oh, am I digressing? Sorry.

Running a sub-three hour marathon is an achievement. Running such in anything greater than less than 70 at low relative humidity and anything greater than 55 degrees at high relative humidity is awesome.

they were completely out of water and gatorade by the second water stop, less than 5 miles into the race. the only drinks we got after that were from churches, and businesses, and chicagoans coming out of their homes to cheer us on.

Doesn't sound like it was very well organized, they new that the heat was coming on race day and though it would've been hard they needed to find a way to get more drinks to the participants. Especially when people's lives depend on it.

I wonder how many lawsuits the organizers will have slapped against them.

I finished in 3:55:58 which was my worst time ever. The first half I kept up my planned 8 minute pace but had to slow down to almost a slow jog by the end. I was in corral B so water and Gatorade supplies were more than adequate when I passed the stations but many runners, including myself, were taking lots of water not to drink, but to cool off with. The volunteers at the stations did not seem to have any problems with this. I'm feeling some quilt about this now. Anyway, I have to say I enjoyed it and will be back next October to hopefully do a sub 3:30.

- Lack of adequate water/gator aid for the first 6 miles- scorching sun on the back half of the race- 88 degree heat- cancelling the race around mile 18 [for my sisters]

both finished, but it seemed dangerous to stop a stampede once it has begun...if the organizers were REALLY that concerned about the weather it shouldn't have started in the first place...

I couldn't imagine what it must have been like in the second half of the race when your body is already demanding that you walk...and then the race organizer are yelling at you to walk...I mean...come on...how psychologically ridiculous is that?

I am proud of my two sisters, and I know they were smart about running in such extreme heat, but there seemed to be a lack of critical thinking in the days that lead up to race day...the heat was not a surprise...

I heard of that happening. I was shocked about that mess. I know I wanted to do it this year but missed the registration period and it filled up quick. I know that I did it 2 years ago when it was the opposite where it was freezing cold. I did that and had to stop around mile 17 because of my knees flaring up in sheer pain. I know that I will be doing the 08 Marathon and will redeem myself and try to work on my goal of getting to the Boston Marathon before I turn 30.

YES!And I better qualify for Boston!If I don't in May at Fredrick, MDAfter I saw Spirit of the Marathon, I decided immediately that Chicago would be my fantastic . . . unless it is miserable like last year.

Chicago Marathon was a COMPLETE DANGEROUS MESS! And, then add insult to injury and have the Event Director (Carey Pinowski) not admit the mistakes that he and his organization made. Sure, the weather was out of anyone's control but he and the event staff know this and still ran out of water and gaterade (remember 45,000 people signed up, 35,000 showed up and yet there was still no water? What would have happened if the other 10,000 showed up? Poor planning).